"Halloween" Franchise Rewind Marathon: 'Halloween Resurrection'

It's Busta Rhymes vs. Michael Myers in this ridiculous eighth film of the franchise.

By: Josh McCormack

For the next few days I will be taking a quick look back at the long-running "Halloween" franchise leading up to the release of David Gordon Green's latest entry. Since the newest film is wiping the slate clean of all the sequels and remakes, I thought we could turn back the clock and talk about all of the films in reverse order. 

Happy Halloween!

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I dare anyone to find me a horror movie that is more early 2000's than Rick Rosenthal's 'Halloween Resurrection'. I mean, honestly, this thing plays out more like a self parody of 2002 than anything else. 

The basic conceit of this one is that a group of college kids get chosen by none other than Busta Rhymes (he has a character name, but who cares?) to be on a reality web show where they will be live broadcasting a night in Michael Myers' childhood home. Of course, Michael shows up at the scene and starts offing the kids one by one on an active live stream.

There's nothing incredibly interesting or new about this plot. In fact, it sounds like most slasher films of this time that were just trying to jump on both the reality tv and internet craze that these goddamn kids wouldn't shut up about. Although it's a direct sequel to 1998's 'H20' the film is far more indebted to something like "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and 1999's smash-hit, 'The Blair Witch Project'. 

The casting of Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks also just seems to point more overtly to the fact that "Dimension Films" was more interested in reaching a teen demographic than trying to please hardcore horror fans. 

Anyone who looks at the promotional images for this film and sees Jamie Lee Curtis' face and name front and center is going to be disappointed. Laurie Strode only appears in the film's first ten minutes, before the opening credits are even complete. 

In the franchise's last installment, Laurie took center stage and the movie gloriously concluded with her decapitating Michael. In one of the dumbest set-ups to a sequel ever, it is revealed at the start of 'Resurrection' that Michael quickly switched outfits with one of the paramedics on the scene, meaning that Laurie accidentally cut the head off an innocent man wearing Michael's mask. 

So, naturally, Michael is still looking for his sister Laurie to exact revenge. She is now in a psychiatric ward when Michael visits her. They have a quick brawl, but in a disappointing twist of events, Michael kills Laurie Strode once and for all. 

This was such an unceremonious death for the horror heroine and Jamie Lee Curtis herself says that this gig was purely contractual and she too hated how her character was just dispatched in the opening moments of the movie. Luckily, David Gordon's Green movie will seemingly right this wrong.

Aside from the death of Laurie Strode, however, there's nothing in 'Resurrection' that's really worth getting upset over. It's an incredibly stupid movie with braindead lead characters and a terrible pop soundtrack, but it's at least kinda entertaining in a 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' kinda way. The kills are okay for a slasher movie and it has a less than 90 minute runtime, so it never outstays its welcome.

Look, it's really bad, but it isn't offensively bad. This is definitely a movie you could watch on a Friday night with your friends and laugh at. 

Also, it concludes with one of the dopiest final battles ever between Busta Rhymes (using Kung Fu) and Michael Myers. With dialogue like "Trick or treat...muthafucka", how can you not at least have a good laugh over this movie's stupidity?

The film is directed by Rick Rosenthal who directed the franchise's best sequel with 1981's 'Halloween II'. Sadly none of the flourishes of that film (or his underrated 'Bad Boys') shine through in this thing. But he's still competent enough to make a serviceable set piece. 

Like I said, "Resurrection" is dumb, but it's inoffensively dumb. I'd take this any day over another Rob Zombie movie.

NEXT!